Empty
by SpasticDjinn
Summary: Rated for angst. Alex looks back at his life, and how it could have been if he had done things differently. ALEX POV drabble.


Empty

**SpasticDjinn: **My first one-shot! …. Golden Sun seems kind of empty at the moment… Prove to me you're still there, people! I'm getting lonely!

**Ivan: **Aren't you always lonely?

**SpasticDjinn: **Yes, always. I need friends…. GIVE ME MSN ADDRESSES! Now, back to the topic… Everyone seems to be gone! New Fics are not getting enough reviews to give the authors reason to continue! Golden Sun Fanfics are not getting the recognition they deserve! WHERE IS EVERYONE! This story is a medium for my angst, depression and sadness. Written on Monday (My sugar-free day).

**Empty**

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The Golden Sun meant nothing in the scheme of things. The world would anyway, with the slow grinding of Gaia Falls, and the endless erosion of the elements, end. Even as Alex stared over the void that marked the end of Weyard, small chunks of the landmass sailed over the edge and into oblivion. Alchemy was nearly over once more, and Alex had seen far too much to forget how it had once been. The Golden Age it was called... Even the Lemurians saw that peace had finally reached the torn and ragged continent. And when the earthquakes stopped, everything went back to he way it had been centuries ago. Lycanthrope discrimination stopped. The war between Champa and Alhafra ended. The world basked in the rays of peace, and the Adepts finally put down their weapons and went back to normal lives. 

If only that had lasted forever.

Alex knew, as did all the Adepts that it would not... Could not last. Sooner or later, someone would realise that Alchemy could be used for their own benefits. The dark that had for so long cowered behind the light, was growing. People grew restless and afraid. And finally the thin strand snapped. The Adepts, untainted by age, were forced to take sides in a battle that shook the entire foundations of Weyard. Man fought Beast. Werewolf fought Lemurian. No society escaped untouched. No person escaped the growing shadow that slowly, like an enormous net, spread itself over the land, ensnaring the innocent and slowly tightening on areas of resistance.

If only he had claimed all the power of the Golden Sun himself, he could save Weyard... He could save the only person who mattered to him.

But that fool, Isaac...

He refused to acknowledge the slow decline of Weyard, the slow decline of Alchemy. The slow decline of his own fevered mind. He had fought for Vale in what was now known as the Alchemic War. He had beaten his own friends, his own allies, for peace. But ultimately, he had achieved nothing. The world was still ensnared in a thread of lies and treachery.

The first to fall was Champa. Long had they been forced to resort to piracy and theft to stay alive. They thought they could finally return to their normal ways, but it was not to be. Their leader, Obaba, was assassinated by her own Great-Grandson, known as Eolo, son of Briggs. He immediately took control of the humble fishing village, and began a brutal regime in which he made military training compulsory for men above the age of thirteen. With his new army of loyal soldiers, he set his sights on his father's enemies: Alhafra and Madra.

The two powers had no reason to fight, so Eolo made one. He attacked Madra and claimed it was a 'relaliation' attack for past crimes. Using the captured city as a heaquarters, Eolo launched daring raids into the heart of Oceania. He finally succeeded in breaching Alhafra's defences and took the city, slaying the incompetant mayor with his own hands. Now Champa controlled three large cities, and had the largest empire in the whole of Weyard.

Vale heard of the actions of the Champans, and allied with Vault and Tolbi. Other cities began making alliances, and soon Weyard could be catagorized into three distinct groups: The Champans, the Alliance of Angara and the Gondowan Confederate. All three regarded each other with distrust, and bitter scuffles broke out over trivial matters. The Golden Sun dimmed, and the world was once again in danger of falling into chaos.

But Isaac did nothing.

Alex did not understand. If he HE had the powers of the Wise One, he knew exactly what he would do. He would crush Champa beneath the heel of his boot, and use his unimaginable power to unite the cities once more, but into a single empire. And a strong empire needs a strong leader...He would suffice.

It was all due to that stupid rock, the Wise One. Why didn't he see that Alex was so much superior to the moralistic Isaac? Alex's judgement would not be clouded by the fact the majority of Champans were innocent. One bad fruit ruins the entire basket... Champa had gone beyond bad. They were rotten to the core. And Isaac did not realise it.

Isaac had stolen the one thing that mattered to Alex. The one thing Alex would have died to possess. Would have died to... Own.

But she would never love him.

He had seen it, in the Mars lighthouse. Disgust, written across her face, marring her perfect features. She hated him. Hated what they once had.

They had been friends once, a long time ago. Before the plan, before the Lighthouses, before anything mattered but him and her. When they were almost brother and sister. They were inseperable. But she did not want to join him when he asked her. The Plan was not to her liking, she was mortified. She pleaded with him, begged. Pleaded, grabbed his robes and demanded that he not go ahead with it. It was immoral, she said. It was a mere whim, and would lead to greater disaster than he thought possible. He remembered the day clearly, as she lay crumpled on the ground, sobbing, as he walked away into the swirling snow, thinking he would never see her again.

Alex had never been strong. He had Psynergy, but had been weak in both mind and body. He vowed to change that. He vowed to make her see that he was not just a pawn, a minion from some higher being. He was doing this of his own accord. It was his plan, and he alone would reap the rewards of success. So he trained. He realised that he would never be physically powerful, he was too frail. So he focused on improving the power of his mind, and his Mercury abilities. He grew stronger by lifting larger and larger objects with a stream of water, and throwing them into the distance. After months of practice, he could lift himself. After a year, he could send a boulder the size of a cart over twenty metres. Soon he began to bore of his training. Moving objects was no longer a challenge to him, and he longed for more.

The chance came when he was seventeen. Brigands, bored from the easy spoils from unprotected South Angara, moved Northwards. Imil was directly in their path. Alex confronted them before they even reached the town, and their bodies were found the next day. Frozen solid, rough faces grimacing eerily in their prisons of ice.

No one congratulated him. No one even knew of what he'd done. He had left the town, and all but Mia believed him dead. He no longer considered himself Imilian. he was more... A being of the lighthouse. The towering monolith had become his home after his departure from Imil, and he found comfort within it's icy corridoors.

He began to despair. He longed to return to Imil, to give up his training, and give up his plan. More than anyhting, he wanted to be with Mia again.

Soon the cogs of fate moved once more, and he was trapped between his mission and his love. It was move on, or die. He chose life.

Convincing the Proxians was far easier than he expected. He fed them with lies about their power, and the easiness of the task ahead. They sent their two greatest warriors, Saturos and Menardi to light the beacons and restore Alchemy to the world. He knew they would fail. But they would distract whoever sought to defeat him, and fight with utter dedication until they died. Once more, Alex lied to the Proxians. He claimed that he wanted to see the rise of the Golden Sun, and would help them with their task. He travelled with them, to Vale.

Alex was never truely fighting for the Proxians. He was fighting for himself, and the one he loved. The Proxian pair grew suspicious of his frequent dissapearances, and commanded he reveal his plans to them. Alex once again used his quick tongue to swell their heads and glorify them, and make them believe he was seeking the whereabouts of the Elemental Stars. Their fierce pride allowed Alex to come and go as he pleased, eliciting no more than a grunt from the two of them.

The first attempt failed. Saturos and Menardi met Alex on a hilltop overlooking the stricken town, carrying four wet bundles between them. Alex didn't need to ask. It was obvious. They had failed to claim the Stars, and almost destroyed the town in the process. At least they had the decency to rescue those who nearly died. Alex was furious, but they had no choice. They had to return to Prox, and review the situation.

It was three years before they returned.

Alex had expected the Valeans to fight to protect the stars. Instead, the only resistance the trio met was an old man and his grandchildren. It always puzzled him how Saturos and Menardi had failed to seize the stars three years ago, and these meddlesome fools had nearly gathered all four!

The tremblings of Mount Aleph drove the trio out of Vale, with only three of the stars. The fourth lay in the hands of a sandy-blond haired boy... Called Isaac.

Alex was not stupid. He knew he could use the old man and the girl as hostages in exchange for the Star. But as they progressed to the Mercury Lighthouse, he grew attached to them. They were far better company than Saturos or Menardi, even if they did try to run away all the time. He even bothered to learn their names. The red-haired one with the fiery temper was Jenna. The old man who Alex had mistaken for her grandfather was Kraden. Both had vibrant personalities, and much to tell of their hometown and friends. It did get annoying how the girl kept on claiming that 'Isaac will come for me!" Alex knew he would. It was exactly what he would do for Mia. Just thinking of her made him feel a pit in his stomach grow wider, and a longing in his heart tug at him like an invisible rope.

When the first stage was completed, Alex felt fierce joy and sadness at the same time. The beacon was lit, and only three remained. But Mia had seen him. And her face was something Alex would never forget. The looks of betrayal, anger, sorrow and... fear. She was afraid of him. He wanted to run over to her, take her frail body into his arms. He knew he couldn't. They would never be together. She despised him.

He regretted what he'd done. The deaths of Saturos and Menardi weighed down on him like an invisible pair of hands, sinking him further into the pit of despair. He had bragged to them. Lied about Isaac's weakness. He had never believed they would win, they would merely buy him time to escape the lighthouse.

Now that it was over, he saw his life had been a waste. For all that lighting the beacons had achieved, he had no part in. No songs of his daring exploits were sung in the taverns of Tolbi. No statues of him were erected in Colosso. No epic books were written about his achievements. He was merely an evil figure, a spectre to frighten those who doubted the power of the Golden Sun.

And she thought he was dead.

They all thought he was miles under the earth. Dead, cold and rotting.

And the world was ending. Again. But this time there would be no stopping it. Grief racked his body, and for the last time, he thought of the love he had never shared with Mia. He thought of the sunrise over Mikasalla, with its pink hue, and the clouds of woven dreams drifting low in the sky. He knew it was over for him. There was nothing left on Weyard he could call his own, or learn to love.

Alex didn't look back. With great deliberation, he stepped off Gaia falls, and vanished into oblivion.

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**SpasticDjinn: Angsty, no? Anyway, it's a change of pace for me. I normally do Random-Humor, as you know. Anyway, tell me if you want me to do more of this stuff! Cya!**


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